Today we flew to Los Angeles to spend our Xmas vacation with my family. We met my brother Kevin and his son Taylor at Azuma in Gardena and ate lots of great food. I had the tonkatsu and sashimi. Oishikatta!

We bought the “Olive, the Other Reindeer” dvd for Bay the other day and have been enjoying it. The animation and CG is really cool, a combination of 3D, but with a flat 2D style. The voices are good, with Drew Barrymore in the starring role, but the only problem is that her singing voice is not so good. I think they should have found someone else to sing the songs. There are some pretty funny jokes geared towards adults too. It was created by Matt Groening, of Simpsons and Life In Hell fame, and you can see some of the same style jokes.

I am not an Andy Pettitte fan (I’m a Dodgers fan, I don’t like the Yankees. boo Reggie), but I found it interesting that Pettitte will be playing for the Astros next year. I can only imagine him wearing pinstripes.

It’s kind of funny how you associate players with the teams and cities they play for, but your opinion of them changes when you find out where they grew up or were born. For instance, I was never interested in Nomar Garciaparra before a couple weeks ago when I found out he was born in Whittier and grew up in So. Cal. And I always liked Eddie Murray since he is an L.A. native. And I hated Reggie Miller when he played against the Lakers in the Finals a couple years ago, until I found out that he is a Riverside, CA native. At any rate, Andy Pettitte will be joining Houston, which is near to his home (Deer Park).

I own lots of cameras. Lots. Let’s see…

Minolta X-700
Minolta 507si (650si)
Nikon F
Nikon AW10 (underwater)
Minolta Hi-matic G
Canon Canonet QL-17 (broken)
Olympus E-10
Canon S100 Digital Elph
Polaroid I-Zone
Canon 35mm point n shoot (can’t remember model)
Sony DSC F1 (dead)

Plus, I have lenses for the SLR’s, auto-winder grips, filters, etc. I really am addicted! Click here to see a small selection of my collection. But, for the past couple years, I have mainly been using the digital cameras. I carry the tiny digital elph in my bag, and we usually take the big Olympus with us on our weekend adventures. But I really miss my film cameras. I think I will start using my X-700 again. My favorite lens has to be my plain old MD 50mm f/1.2 because it is basic and fast. I have a nice 35-70mm zoom, but I find that I take better photos with a fixed focal lens. I have some film in my X-700 for way back when, but I can’t remember if it is color or black and white. All I know is that it is ISO400.

Was taking a walk down memory lane today by perusing the Battlestar Galactica site. What a show. My favorite character was Sheba. I thought she was so hot.

Another bit of trivia. Did you know that Ed Begley Jr. was in the show? He was “Greenbean” and apparently starred alongside Charles Manson and the Six-million Dollar Man.

Bay and I have been enjoying Spongebob Squarepants lately. I think it’s pretty damn funny. Highly recommended for grown ups and children alike!

On CNN today there is a story about how smart phones and PDA’s might make the laptop obsolete. The story talks about how the PDA has many of the same functions as a laptop, but in a much smaller (and more easily transportable) form factor.

As a user of both a Pocket PC PDA and a laptop, I do not think that the PDA will make laptops obsolete. Sure, you can check email, browse the Internet and listen to MP3’s using a PDA, but it is a royal pain in the butt to input a good deal of text. Until someone invents a really portable keyboard (a fabric keyboard would be awesome), I think the traditional laptop is here to stay. Plus, how are you going to load Photoshop on your smart phone? I’d have to say that the best solution right now is an ultra-portable laptop. Something around 2-3lbs with at least 40GB HD.

On the other hand, PDA’s are relatively cheap, so that’s a good choice as long as you know what you can and can’t do with it. I love to browse the web with it, but I won’t bother writing long emails with it.

I was reading on Billy’s site Public Realm about his recommendations for iTunes and the radio stations there, so I decided to fire it up and check out some stations. I clicked into the Jazz section and found KKJZ Live, which is broadcasting out of CSULB. What a great find! I used to listen to KKGO when I lived in So. Cal. and now I can finally listen to some of the same DJ’s again. I always wondered whre Chuck Niles went to…